Ramble – 17 October 2018

Totland to Alum Bay – 2 miles

Six ladies made their way to Totland by bus, sitting upstairs to enjoy the views. We got off at the War Memorial bus stop along Broadway, crossed over and made our way down Madeira Road to Cliff Road. The grass was being cut on the Turf Walk. We continued on until we turned right to take footpath T16 up on to Headon Warren.

The weather was murky and so were the views. Unfortunately, we were too late for a display of heather – just the odd bit was in bloom here and there. There was some gorse in bloom. Rio explained that it was dwarf gorse as common gorse does not bloom at this time of year. A fellow member of the Natural History Society had informed Rio of this when on Headon Warren in September. Raindrops on a web were also observed.

At the Alum Bay end of Headon Warren, the path split. Wendy led the group straight on but this path had eroded in places and there sheer drops on the right and a not so sheer drop on the left. Neither Elizabeth or Rio liked the dizzy heights so they back-tracked to the path junction, where Rio led Elizabeth down the lower path. Rio and Elizabeth waited on a grassed area for a few minutes but the other four could not be seen or heard. Elizabeth thought they were already at Alum Bay so Elizabeth and Rio went to Alum Bay. They looked in shops, the cafe, the bar but there was no sign of them. By now, it was drizzling so shelter was taken by the 4D film entrance. Rio believed that the others were still making their way down and texted Mary to say that Elizabeth and her were by the 4D film entrance at Alum Bay.

After a while, Wendy, Mary, Margaret and Pam appeared. They had to fight their way through a load of brambles while descending from that higher path. Mary didn’t have her phone on so hadn’t picked up Rio’s text. There was a number 7 bus in bound for Newport so Mary and Elizabeth caught it back.

Wendy, Margaret, Pam and Rio had lunch in the cafe. Afterwards, there was a while to wait for a bus so they went to look around the shop that is adjacent to the glass-blowing studio. Rio bought a rainbow-coloured pendant to wear to future IW Pride events and a small ornamental Christmas tree with LED lights that change colour.